That tarnished silver that you’ve got stashed away isn’t doing anybody any good during your next party, family dinner or special occasion. Obviously, you’re not about to put out place settings and serving pieces that look less than shiny.
But, hours spent with the polishing cloth isn’t exactly your favourite way to spend the day (and we totally don’t blame you).
Before you throw in the towel (literally), check out Hometalk’s so, so, so simple silver cleaning trick! Taking the internet by storm, with more than 7.4 million views on Facebook already), Hometalk’s video is just over one minute and details what you need to quickly clean your silver.
Forget about harsh chemicals and muscle-numbing scrubbing with clothes, sponges and towels. You’ve probably already got what you need to make your silver shine right in your kitchen cabinets. A ball of aluminum foil, a pot of boiling water and baking soda make a pretty genius mix that actually cleans silver to a sparkling finish! Don’t believe it? That’s okay. It does sound suspiciously simple. But, the video clearly shows the power of foil and baking soda. Watch Hometalk’s feature and see just how easy this cleaning trick is!
If you’re still wondering why this hack actually works – there’s real science behind it. Silver reacts chemically with sulfur-containing substances in the air. The result? The dark, not so shiny look that we call tarnish (that’s actually silver sulfide coating the surface). To restore silver to its natural luster, you need to remove the silver sulfide layer. That’s what polishing and scrubbing with a cloth does.
But, if you’re not into polishing, you can go with option number two (a.k.a. what we see on the video). This requires you to reverse the chemical reaction that created the dark sulfide. The aluminum and baking soda bath reverses the reaction, releasing the sulfur from the silver and moving it to the aluminum. Since you’re going to toss the foil anyway, the fact that it’s now coated in aluminum sulfide doesn’t much matter when it comes to your cleaning routine (i.e., throw away the used foil). Sometimes the sulfur won’t completely grab on to the foil. If this is the case, you may notice yellow flakes floating in the bath after taking your silver out.
